Regardless of the other great wine regions, like Lodi, Central Coast, and Temecula, Californias famous Napa Valley remains number one in my heart. Why is that true? In 1968, the Napa County Board of Supervisors passed a landmark zoning ordinance that made Napa Valley the first Agricultural Preserve in the United States. The Ag Preserve, as it is known, mandated agriculture as the highest and best Read on...
Who would have thought it? I woke up expecting to walk on Day 78 but things did not go quite as expected. As always, because I dont sleep that well I woke at 6.15. Glenn quietly said Its raining Its been raining all night . Half expecting it to be fine enough to walk I got out of bed , walked over to the window peered out through half closed eyes and it was indeed wet on the patio. It was still Read on...
In my everyday life, I tend to live fairly simply. I work a great deal and when to decisions of spending money on coffee, fancy clothes or extravagant dinners, I usually opt to pass. That money is then put in my Vacation Fund bank account (yes, it is named this on my banks website) so when time to travel, I am fully funded and ready to go. Although I usually dont buy Starbucks on my day off, I wil Read on...
We had a late breakfast. Breakfast is open until 11 and the buffet was constantly being replenished. As expected a wide variety of fresh produce, cheeses, baked goods, omelettes or juices, coffee, etc were available. We sat outside and ordered coffee. Then we browsed the buffet and found lots to choose. The salads and some of the dairy products are produced on the farm here or by other local est Read on...
A long drive today, longest of the trip and Bob really had to psych himself up as still not 100% right after the iffy food of Monday. Not helped by knowing this was not going to be an easy drive. Circumventing Taragonna but worse, Barcelona, can never be an easy drive and it wasnt. The countryside and views especially on the first half of the drive are good with high peaks to the left, west and gl Read on...
We were on our way a little before 7am, for our last day on the Camino. First, we passed through San Anton, then saw another scene from the Hobbit. Next, we went from spooky countryside to just the opposite, crossing the highway spotting a in for a landing at the Santiago Airport. We stopped in The Patio at San Paio for a break just after 8am. After our break, we continued through Lavacolla, passi Read on...
We made three trips to France in 2018/2019 before moving on to Hawaii. the photos, and this blog is mostly Provence (south of France) and the next one will be Provence to Paris and back to Switzerland.
As I said before, I love driving small backroads - the curvier, the better. And there are quite a few curvy roads in France. We try to get a small car, so Pete can usually, easily turn around and w Read on...
Driving from Cheyenne to Colorado Springs on took about three and a half hours. We stayed in Colorado Springs on Sunday night. Colorado Springs is right at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and close to Pikes Peak. Our objective was to travel to the summit of Pikes Peak, 14,115 feet (4302 m), on Monday.
Pikes Peak is a poplar destination which one can ascend by train, by road or by hiking. The Man Read on...
Sadly we to the counting down stage of our trip – when to do the last drift snorkel, or the last visit to this place or that. We are making sure that Jess gets to do everything that she wants, as she probably will never return, and we cant guarantee that we will either.
So, its always important to plan for the big rocks first (remember your Steven Covey 7 Habits of Success?). And todays was the Read on...
Borgholm is a rather nice place to walk around in. The church in the town centre has a style that is a bit interesting
We are now going to write about the rest of what we saw and did when we visited land. In the title we claim that it covers the southern half of the island. Please dont look too closely at a map. Because we have taken some liberty with what actually is in the north and in the sout Read on...